


Carnaval De Cuentos: Prologue

by junkknight



Category: Carnaval De Cuentos
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 14:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10219928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junkknight/pseuds/junkknight
Summary: Welcome to the prologue for the webcomic Carnaval de Cuentos





	

It was midnight when the first bell tolled and its sound filled the long hall. Moonlight spilled through the elongated windows and fell upon the patterned carpet and frozen silhouettes. Chandeliers hanging from the ceiling lit up, illuminating the area. There was a brief moment of silence, followed by rushed footsteps and loud whispers. Dozens gathered in two lines and began filing into a room with large doors located at the end of the hall. Whispers were hushed as they brushed off their uniforms, fixed their gloves, and popped up their collars. Tailcoats of various styles and colors marched down the hall one after the other in silence; a routine they all knew so well. Yet on this particular night an unsettling atmosphere hung from the high ceilings and followed the Ringleaders as they exchanged nervous glances.

The second bell tolled.

The last to fall in line was Amiel. They walked slowly, falling out of step as their gaze was strictly focused on their hand. Amiel rubbed their thumb over their palm then clenched it into a fist. A look of slight disappointment washed over their face. 

“Amiel!” a voice hissed.

Amiel looked up and realized they had fallen behind. The last of the Ringleaders had finally made their way into the room. 

A Ringleader in a blue tailcoat was holding the door open. She motioned to Amiel to hurry. Amiel looked at their palm once more. Nothing. They sighed and tugged on their glove before sprinting towards the room.

◄▬▬▬▬▬▬▬►

The room was broad with high decorative ceilings. It held only wooden chairs that formed into a large circle and although they possessed velvet cushions with elegant carvings they were no match to the three armchairs that sat proudly on a raised platform; their presence claiming the spotlight within the circle with their extravagant detailed carvings and gold lining. 

The Ringleaders settled into their seats, whispering occasionally into the ears next to them. 

Amiel was rushed to their seat by the Ringleader in blue. They sat close to the door. 

“I was really hoping tonight would be optional. I mean, it’s the same speech every year, isn’t it?” She said, brushing a lock of magenta hair over her shoulder. 

Amiel was back to examining their palm.

“Hey,” The Ringleader snapped her fingers. Amiel blinked. They tucked their hand under their thigh.

“Are you alright?”

“Uh...,” Amiel began. 

“Aw, look! It’s my favorite leaders in the whole world,” said a voice with a snicker. 

The two looked up to find an orange haired Ringleader gracefully skipping towards them; lips bitten to barely hold back a smirk. A mint green cape swooshed behind him. 

“Ah. Micc,” said the Ringleader in blue, squinting with a little hint of disgust. “I was hoping you didn’t show up.”

“Had to. They say this meeting’s really important.” 

“It’s the opening ceremony, dimwit. Not a meeting. It happens every year.”

Micc crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah? Then where’s the Masquerade, Eva?” He said her name the same way she had said his; like it was the dirtiest rag they’ve ever touched. 

“Like I would know.” 

The third bell tolled.

Amiel cleared their throat, distracting the two Ringleaders from glaring daggers at each other. 

“Quiet you two, the Ringmasters are here.”

“Huh? OH.” Eva quickly straightened up and brushed her lap. 

Micc, who had been standing proudly with his arms crossed, panicked at the mentioned of the Masters and quickly shrunk into the seat next to Eva. 

The doors swung open once more and the three Ringmasters walked in. Their presence silenced the room which before then had been buzzing with small conversation. 

Corvus. 

Phoenix. 

And Aquila. 

Their long capes flowed heavily behind them as they crossed the room. There was a mix of emotions. Each Ringleader held a different expression for their superiors. Some stared in awe, others in subtle jealously. And there were some that couldn’t find the courage to look at them at all. Micc pressed his side to Eva, who looked over and rolled her eyes at his nervous face. Amiel couldn’t help but smile as Aquila casually shot them a glance. 

Aquila walked slightly ahead of the other two and pulled her burgundy cape to the side as she took her place in the middle armchair. To the left, Phoenix flopped down and gave everyone a youthful wide smile. To the right, Corvus slunk into their seat and greeted everyone with the arch of their brow. 

The room stayed quiet. 

After a few moments. Aquila clapped her hands.

“Well,” She said. “I’m delighted to see you all here tonight.”

Phoenix leaned over and whispered something into Aquila’s ear to which she nodded with an odd look on her face. It quickly disappeared as she turned back to the room with a confident smile.

“As you all may have noticed, this isn’t our usual opening ceremony. We have cancelled our traditional masquerade due to some events that have occurred during the rest period.”

The room began to buzz with whispers again. 

“Settle down.” Corvus raised their voice. Silence.

“You can rest assured they have been dealt with.” Aquila said. “Unfortunately, resolving this problem cut into the planning of our event, so it had to be cancelled.”

“I smell bull…” Eva muttered under her breath. Amiel gave her a confused look. 

“Must be you.” Micc smirked and bit back a groan when he was elbowed in the ribs. 

The whispers started to grow once more. Aquila drew out a sigh. Corvus, who had been lazily lying across their chair, sat up and leaned forward. 

“I want to remind you all that the events that occurred during the rest period are now private matters. And those that decide to get a little too curious over it and get caught getting a little too curious will be reprimanded and stripped of their magic.”

The room responded with murmurs. 

“Wow.” Micc leaned against Eva with dreamy eyes. “Corvus is so serious.”

“So am I,” Eva growled, “when I say I’ll knock your teeth in if you don’t get off me.”

Micc sat up straight and Amiel chuckled. 

“Don’t we have the right to know?”

The room fell silent. 

To Amiel’s opposite, a ringleader had stood up. Everyone stared and then slowly turned to the Ringmasters for their response. 

Phoenix was back to whispering things in Aquila’s ear. Corvus arched a brow. 

“It does not concern you, Ringleader.”

“It might concern our safety.” The Ringleader spoke. Amiel watched her; the way she held a confident stance but her eyes held a different story. Her hands trembled at her sides in the slightest. “For the consequences to be that big…”

Aquila smiled. “Deena, I understand your concern—”

Corvus interrupted. “But we will not discuss further details with you.” They stood up. “Or any of you.”

The Ringleader inched back as her superior left their chair and walked to the center of the room. Some shrunk away; other’s held their head high. Corvus watched them all.

“Every single one of you is here in this room today because you were chosen to receive our gift. The gift of magic.”

“Finally,” Eva yawned. “Back to the good old opening ceremony speech.”

Amiel listened carefully. Their thumb was back to brushing along their palm.

Corvus continued, “Some of you have been Ringleaders far longer than others and you were all chosen for different reasons. But what you all share in common is that we trust you.”

The Ringleader began to blush. She looked away. 

“We trust that you know what we have given you. And we trust that you’ll put it to good use. Amaze the world. Entertain it. Bring light to the darkest parts of the universe. We trust you can do that. And there’s no doubt in our minds. About any of you. You all have unique talents, different magical abilities and you’re all good Ringleaders.”

The room was then split between smug looks and bashful faces. Corvus stepped closer to the Ringleader that had stood up. She shrunk back. Corvus smiled.

“We trust you. And we’re here to look after you, as we’ve been doing for all these years.”

With a quick whirling motion of their hand, Corvus made a glass of wine materialize in his hand. He extended it out to the Ringleader.

“Now, is it unfair of us to ask you guys to trust us when we say we can handle a situation on our own?”

“No.” The Ringleader replied quietly. She took the glass of wine.

“Thank you.” Corvus smiled. 

◄▬▬▬▬▬▬▬►

The door to the attic bust opened with a slam and was followed by Eva’s angry grunts as she stomped inside. Amiel followed suit with a tin of cookies. 

“I swear, that speech gets cheaper and shorter every year.” Eva lashed out. 

“You talking about Corvus’ speech?” Micc walked in through the doorway and eyed the broken door. “You’re probably gonna have to fix that.”

Eva groaned. “Who the hell invited you here?” She immediately looked at Amiel. “Don’t tell me—”

Amiel shrugged and stuffed their face with another cookie. 

“Traitor.” 

Micc ignored the two and sat on an old crate. “Listen, Eva. I’m sure you have lots of wonderful things to say about Corvus. But I kind of have something way more interesting in my hands.”

“Don’t care.” Eva deadpanned. She grabbed a cookie from Amiel’s tin and sat against the wall. The room was small and dusty and Eva was sure her uniform would need some washing after. 

“Tada.” Micc opened his fist to reveal a miniature top hat.

“What are you doing with the lottery hat?” Amiel asked.

“What else would I be doing with it? We’re picking this year’s host.” 

Eva laughed. “The annual masquerade host? It’s June, kid. That’s a long way from October.”

“It’s called preparation time. But you wouldn’t know anything about that huh, Eva. Last I heard your first and only time hosting was a complete mess.” Micc giggled.

Eva sighed. “I’m gonna strangle him, Amiel.” 

“Alright, relax you two.” Amiel settled their tin of cookies on the floor and sat next to Micc on the crate. “Micc I’m guessing you came to collect our names, right. Do you have the paper?”

“Right here.” He slipped two thin strips of paper out of his pocket. 

Amiel took them and gave one to Eva. With the press of their thumb, the paper glowed and signed their named. Micc grabbed the miniature hat and stretched it with his fingers until it was a regular size. Colorful puffs of smoke circled around the edge of the hat. 

“Drop ‘em in, drop ‘em in.” Micc said excitedly.

Amiel and Eva closed in and the papers fell in with a ‘poof’. The smoke circled back in and disappeared. 

“Were we the last ones?” Amiel asked.

“Of course. We all did it about a month ago.” Micc carefully sat the hat on the floor. “Now we wait.”

“You sure seem really excited, Micc.” Eva smirked. “You want your little carnival to get picked?”

“It’s a lot bigger than the last time you visited.” Micc brushed her off and continued eying the hat.

Eva rolled her eyes. She spotted Amiel staring at their palm again.

“Okay, what the hell is up. You’ve been doing that all night.”

Amiel looked up. They shrugged. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been staring at your hand like it’s got the answer to life, the universe and everything else. That’s not nothing.”

Amiel sighed. They sat on the floor next to Eva.

“I just…I thought I used my magic earlier on. In the hall.”

Eva arched a brow. “Okay. Well. You do realize you’re in a mansion filled with magicians, right? Magic tends to happen.”

Amiel shook their head. “No, I mean. I don’t have my amulet on me.”

At this, Micc was pulled back into reality. “Whoa, whoa. What? Magic without amulet? Who?”

Eva shooed him away. “Nothing, go back to dreaming you’ll get picked.” 

Micc flipped her off but did as he was told and eagerly looked inside the lottery hat. 

Eva turned back to Amiel. There was a slightly confused look on her face. “Are you sure about this?”

Amiel opened their mouth to speak but was engulfed with a string of possibilities and explanations running through their head. After a while they shrugged in defeat and gave a weak smile. 

“No. I’m not sure at all. I was probably imagining things. I’ve been really tired lately. You know, prepping up for the carnival year and all.” 

Eva nodded. “Are those twins still being little rebellious devils?”

Amiel laughed. “No, they’re older now, Eva.” They paused to think, “Well one of them still might be a little devil.” 

The two ringleaders laughed. 

Amiel thought some more. They looked at Micc and lowered their voice. “Why’d you call bull on the cancellation of the masquerade?” 

Eva shrugged. “The Ringmasters never tell us the full truth.”

“What makes you say that?”

Micc spoke up, “Because Eva loves to believe the word of gossip.”

The two ringleaders jumped slightly at the sound of Micc’s booming voice.

Eva began to stand up. “I’m seconds away from kicking your face in…stop smiling at me you little—”

“What gossip?” Amiel interrupted, holding Eva down until she sat again.

Micc perked up. “Apparently a ringleader went missing. Just fell off the face of the earth. Untraceable.”

“And for some reason, the Ringmasters are covering it up.”

“Right.” Micc rolled his eyes.

“Why else would they tell us not to snoop around?”

“Didn’t you hear our handsome Corvus?” Micc batted his eyes. He continued in a mocking tone. “Cause they care about us. They trust us. They—”

He stopped when a bright stream of light sprouted from the hat. It shook violently for a few seconds and then it spewed a golden strip of paper into the air. 

“I got it!” Micc leaped up and grabbed the paper. He squeaked excitedly as he unfolded the paper in his hand. His grin quickly faded into a disappointed pout. 

“Aw. Wittle Micc didn’t get picked?” Eva grinned with amusement.

Micc shot her a glare, “Well neither did you, princess.”

He turned to look at Amiel. With such little enthusiasm, he passed the golden paper to his fellow Ringleader and congratulated them.

“Congrats, Amiel. Just don’t make it shitty like Eva’s.”

Amiel accepted the paper with slight awe. Eva and Micc’s bicker faded in the background as Amiel saw their name printed neatly in black ink. They were given the chance of hosting the Annual Masquerade. Throughout the year, there were only two Masquerades held; one at the opening ceremony (an event that welcomed the new carnival year after the resting period) and the Halloween Masquerade. The latter was more informal and served as an opportunity for the Ring Leaders to socialize together without the supervision of the Ringmasters. It was the second biggest event of the year and now Amiel was the host. 

Their mind was still stuck on the “missing ringleader”. But after a few moments, they decided to push it to the back of their head. They had a lot of planning to do. 

Amiel smiled, “Ezequiel and Benjamin are going to love this.”


End file.
